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Application Culture Entertainment

Smash Is A Wearable For Tracking Tennis Technique

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Natasha Lomas Fitness wearables are getting more specialized. There’s Sensoria’s smart running socks. TheKrack trick-tracker for skateboarders. And now Smash: a wearable bracelet for tennis players to quantify their technique.Or there will be if Smash’s Australian makers can convince Kickstarter backers to pledge a rather hefty $200,000 AUD in crowdfunding over the next 43 days. Smash founder Rob Crowder says that level of funding is required to take the current prototype to commercial product, with system architecture,…

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Google

How Google Uses Machine Learning And Neural Networks To Optimize Data Centers

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Darrell Etherington Google has released some new research about it efforts to maximize performance and minimize energy use at data centers through machine learning today. Long story short: Google is building superintelligent server farms that can learn from their past performance and improve themselves in the future. Google’s AI data centers are a 20 percent project – the result of an employee, Jim Gao, working on something he found interesting that falls outside…

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Microsoft Retail Sales

Microsoft slashes Surface Pro 2 prices by up to £150

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As reported by Engadget. BY JAMIE RIGG Microsoft might be gearing up for the launch of its bigger, better Surface 3 tablet, but it still hopes to shift some older slates in the interim, with help from an enticing discount. In the biggest price cut we can remember since Surface RT received similar treatment, all configurations of Surface Pro 2 are now available through Microsoft’s UK store for £140 or £150 off their normal cost. This means you can grab the base…

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Tech

Broadcom’s new chip lets your phone use any wireless charging standard

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS Wonder why only a handful of mobile devices support wireless charging? It’s partly because the standards are horribly fragmented: companies have to choose between technologies like PMA, Rezence and Qi, and it’s not clear which of those will last. Broadcom might put the issue to bed with its new (and awkwardly titled) BCM59350 chip, though. The hardware lets gadgets charge using any existing wireless technology — you won’t have to hunt for specific charging pads.…

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Entertainment

‘Edge of Tomorrow’ clips show Tom Cruise fighting, training, and dying over and over again

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As reported on The Verge. By Jacob Kastrenakes Edge of Tomorrow is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling films of the summer. It’s a sci-fiGroundhog Day that finds Tom Cruise in a mech suit battling off aliens, dying again and again only to find himself back where he started, free to train until — presumably — he’s capable enough to fend them off once and for all. We’ve already seen a few great trailers for the film, but now…

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Application Education

Quick Key, The Quiz Scanning App For Teachers, Raises Over $250,000

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As reported on TechCrunch. by John Biggs When we last saw Quick Key, founder Walter Duncan was working to get his quiz grading appinto schools across the country. Now they’ve announced a $250,000 raise to help expand their reach and improve the product. The app, which streamlines the grading process utilizing optical character recognition, has so far been used to scan 300,000 quizzes. One teacher, Younis Aydin, in Istanbul, wrote that the app helped him grade 400 exams…

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Engineering

Build your own robotic bartender with Arduino and a 3D printer

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS You can certainly buy a ready-made drink mixing robot if you’re flush with cash, but wouldn’t you rather spend that money on the drinks themselves? Yu Jiang Tham thinks so — he recently designed Bar Mixvah, a robotic bartender you can build yourself with $180 in parts. The key ingredient is an Arduino Nano microcontroller that takes your requests through a web-based interface. After that, it’s mostly a matter of 3D printing the frame…

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Random Tech

IBM’s Watson computer makes a delicious BBQ sauce

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS We know through first-hand experience that IBM’s Watson supercomputer can make a fine meal, but it’s apparently an ace at condiments, too. Fast Company has tried Bengali Butternut BBQ Sauce, a recipe chosen by Watson to maximize flavor through complimentary (and fairly uncommon) ingredients. The result is a “delicious” concoction unlike what you’d normally throw on your food — butternut and white wine give it a sweet taste, while tamarind and Thai chiles…

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Business Culture HealthCare

This pill could stop 90 percent of HIV cases in the US

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As reported on The Verge. By Arielle Duhaime-Ross But only if it reaches the right people Michael Lucas has been taking Truvada, the HIV prevention pill, for about a year now. And the 42-year-old adult film director and gay porn performer readily admits that the decision wasn’t all that hard to make — especially when compared with the alternative. “It just seemed healthier to run the risk of experiencing side effects than to worry about HIV,”…

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Business

AT&T To Acquire DirecTV For Nearly $50B

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Greg Kumparak As has been rumored for the past few weeks, AT&T has just officially announced their plans to acquire DirecTV. The terms of the deal came together at roughly $95 per share, which comes to a grand total of $48.5 billion dollars. If you add in the nearly $19B worth of debt that DirecTV is towing behind it, though, this deal sets AT&T back to a tune closer to $67 billion. It…

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